The Flooding of Halk
by LZW
Summary: "One single Flood spore can destroy a species." - Rtas Vadum. And so a single Flood spore shall arrive, in the world of Halkeginia, where it shall destroy a species, one mage at a time. Can the Halkeginians combat this threat? Or will they perish just as all the others have? Let us see, just how large, the monument to all their sins, will be… Cover Art By: GamingHedgehog
1. Chapter 1: Spore

A/N: Seeing as I had time on my hands and wanted to take a short break from writing Freedom and Democracy, I decided to pick up one of my ideas from the poll and write about it. I really like the idea of destroying Halkeginia for some reason, what with the Fics I write largely being world breaking. This story will not be a happy one as you will soon see and will basically depict the struggle of the Halkeginians as they try, in vain, to contain the outbreak when it becomes serious. Their doom is inevitable, but will the journey to their doom be a great one?

This story will likely be extremely fast paced since, obviously, they stand no chance, so just keep that in mind.

* * *

A flood spore floated in the air within High Charity when it heard a call. The gravemind heard it as well and gave the spore its directive, answer the call and search for new life. Report back if able, if not, establish a new flood presence in that world. The spore obeyed, and answered the call, entering the portal which spawned in its path and pulled it into a new world.

The spore was shot into the air as an explosion occurred when it passed through. It called out to its gravemind after arrival but received no answer. Its second directive then initiated, and it carried out its task. Observing its immediate surroundings, the spore looked for the simplest host and found a small sized human with pink hair.

With its tiny appendages, the spore propelled itself through the air and aimed for its target. The spore used the wind which suddenly came and blew the smoke away to slingshot itself into its future host's mouth. A clean entry, no one around noticed save for some coughing from said host due to the irritation she felt in her throat when it entered. The spore then settled, and began its mission.

* * *

"Haha! Louise summoned nothing!"

"After all that talk about summoning something amazing you still ended up summoning nothing. Then again, what else did i expect from Zero Louise?"

"Go home Zero, you aren't a proper mage!"

Louise recovered from her coughing fit, which she attributed to the smoke, and stared at the blank empty field ahead of her in a desperate hope of spotting something, anything, which could have been her Familiar. Alas, she saw nothing, not even a fly, and broke. She went on her knees and wept as her classmates jeered on.

"That's enough, all of you, back to class!"

The rowdy bunch were silenced and quietly returned to their lessons while the teacher, Professor Colbert, approached the crying girl and tried to comfort her.

"It's alright Louise, it's going to be okay…"

She paid him no heed and continued to sob. He backed away and gave her some space. He knew it wouldn't be okay, she had made an agreement with her family last year to allow her to continue to the second year until she summoned a Familiar. Sadly, she did not succeed and thus would be forced to drop out of the school and return to her family home.

She persevered and studied everyday even despite her lack of magical talent but now, she had to give up. It was sad to see such a hard working student go, but there was nothing he could do about it, her family had long pressed him and the Headmaster to expel her so she could return home and marry her fiance.

The teacher reluctantly left her alone in the yard to inform the Headmaster of the development and get him to prepare the necessary papers. He found the man being abused by his secretary, no doubt for sexually harassing her as usual, and was slightly annoyed he was not taking things seriously. He quickly got up from the floor where he was being kicked and sat back into his seat with a more stern look upon noticing Colbert's arrival.

"Old Osmond, Miss Vallière has unfortunately failed her summoning ritual."

"I see… That is most unfortunate indeed, it is unfortunate to see such a student leave but I guess we must abide by the agreement between her and her family. I will get the documents ready and inform her parents."

"And I will aid in her packing I suppose…"

The kindly Professor left the office and headed to the courtyard to find that she had supposedly recovered and gone to her room. He headed to the dorms to meet her and found her, instead of packing, lying on her bed in curled up in a ball and clutching her stomach. He attributed the behavior to the fear of what her family would do to her for failing and helped to pack her belongings into a sack with levitation.

He tied the knot to the bag and left it by her door for her when her family came to pick her up tomorrow. Professor Colbert was saddened that this was the most he could help his student, wondering briefly how strictly the Vallière family, one of the most influential countries in Tristain, would treat their magicless daughter.

Within the girl, the flood spore slowly started to spread throughout her. The spread was faster than anticipated however, as if aided by a magical force and the spore already infected her lungs and oesophagus as well as an upper part of her stomach. Its lysogenic replication was somehow catalysed by the strange blood within the girl and allowed it to grow exponentially.

The next day soon came and a depressed Louise was brought out of her room and loaded into the carriage. The one who had come to pick her up was Éléonore Vallière, the eldest of the three Vallière sisters. She was incredibly harsh towards her younger sibling, lecturing her throughout the entire journey back home about the consequences of being magicless as a Vallière.

* * *

A/N: This is just a test chapter for now so if you want a continuation, please vote for the option on my poll till around twenty.

Review, favourite and follow if you've enjoyed. Don't forget to check out my other stories and community as well. Story status information can be found on my profile and you can make suggestions on my forum.


	2. Chapter 2: Tristain

A/N: Seems I forgot to add the vote goal anywhere… So dumb… Anyway, I'm going to release this chapter now as atonement. Forgive me if I get any aspects of the flood wrong, not too sure exactly how they work based on the campaign except that you need them to die, fast. Reviews will be replied to at the bottom of the end Author's Note so you check it out if you have any questions similar to those posed in present reviews or posted a review. Shout out to the Guest who reminded me by the way.

* * *

Louise was in terrible shape. After arriving home, she shut herself in her room and suffered in silence, not wanting to incur the wrath of her mother or Eleonore nor trouble Cattleya. Without anything stopping it, the flood spore creeped its way through Louise slowly during the night as she tried in vain to sleep.

In the room down below, her mother spoke with Eleonore.

"It is rather unfortunate that she couldn't produce any results but I suppose it's best this way."

"Louise seemed out of it during the ride home, I think we should give her some time to calm down mother."

"Yes, it must have been devastating, she truly believed herself to be capable of magic after all… I will hold off talking to her about the future till tomorrow at noon. She deserves that much for her efforts at least…"

Unable to sleep at all due to the feeling of her insides practically melting, the pink haired host got no sleep the entire night but retained enough energy from her lack of action that when Louise's room was visited by her mother the next day after a loud knock, she managed to force herself to at least sit up in her mother's presence despite the pain.

"Louise, I hope you are feeling better about leaving the academy because in three days we will commence your training to be a bride."

A groan was all the infected girl could muster in response.

"Wardes will be coming over to see you then as well, so make sure not to fail in this aspect as well."

Not even waiting for a reply, Karin walked out of the room and shut the door behind her, intending to let her daughter learn to take care of herself. She instructed all the staff and Louise's siblings not to interact with her unless she initiated it. Not wanting to incur the wrath of the Heavy Wind, no one bothered Louise for two whole days.

And so for two whole days, the flood spore spread through Louise unhindered, taking over her lower face and legs. She was too weak to call for help by the time she realized the state of her body and just sat there to rot after immense struggling. No one checked up on her and no one brought her food, as if the room housed no tenant.

By the third day, her mind was the final bastion of humanity remaining in her now numb and unresponsive body. She could still see and hear but any other senses were neutralized by the parasite's infection. By then Louise had accepted her fate and just waited for it to end. Surprisingly however, the pain stopped at some point and she lost track of time just reveling in the peace.

Eventually, someone knocked at the door and Louise instinctively got up, only to find that she wasn't the one in control at all when she started to head for the window and jump out after throwing it open with great force. She heard the door open behind her as she fell and ran off into the distance.

* * *

Cattleya, concerned for her dear little sister, had disobeyed her mother and gone to check on Louise. Unfortunately, all she saw was an open window as the curtains flapped in the wind. She looked around frantically before calling out for help, dispatching guards to search for her and informing her family.

"Mother! It's terrible, I went to check up on Louise against your orders but she wasn't there!"

"What?!"

"It looks like she escaped out the window."

"That girl… Call the guard captain!"

A wide search was carried out to cover three days of travel but no results turned up for weeks, flood forms could travel faster than normal humans after all...

* * *

In those weeks, the infected Louise hid in a forest near the magic academy and raided biomass from the wildlife. It also attacked the occasional human before dragging the body deep into the woods to infect. The flood force had grown to a sizeable ten members and flood infection forms were slowly being incubated within the desecrated animals. Louise could only watch within her mind as the atrocities took place.

It was strange, the flood present were in the co-ordinated stage and able to communicate with each other as if a gravemind were present despite their numbers clearly showing that they should be in the feral stage. It was almost as if a spell had been cast on the Alpha Form, Louise. Nonetheless, the flood did not question it and acted together, preying on the fools who dared to enter their domain.

A scout team was eventually sent when reports of people disappearing in this forest became too numerous to ignore. They too befell the same fate as those before them and a subjugation force was sent, mysteriously gone without a trace as well. Eventually a noble was forced to arrive once the losses piled up. He led the team himself and attempted to burn down the accursed forest but an infection form leapt onto his face before he could send it flying and the projectile dissipated while horribly mutated combat forms rushed out from the trees to assault the guards.

Some tried to run after their weapons had little to no effect on the monstrosities but they were easily pinned by their pursuers as more infection forms creeped onto their disabled forms, a tendril extending from it and jabbing into the spinal cord of the terrified guards who all screamed as they lost their wills.

As for the noble, the knowledge gleaned from him was interesting and using his commandeered wand, the flood form of Louise pointed in the direction of a tree, causing it to explode. The form hadn't been able to infect the brain for some reason and so had no access to such information before.

The forms, now further reinforced, laid siege to a goblin encampment in the forest and took the unintelligent beings as biomass fodder to create infection forms. On the night of the completion of incubation, the Alpha Form, equipped with its wand, let loose his fellow companions to charge into the building with the near hundred infection forms it managed to amass from the critters in the forest.

The strike force stormed the school by surprise, targeting the dorms first and sending the ominous droning infection forms through the windows to infect the young mages. Few reacted in time to avoid infection as the infection forms synchronized their attack. Only Tabitha and Kirche managed to pop their infection forms before they could carry out their directive.

With a delicate ice spike, the form was punctured above the bluenette

'Escape required.'

A quick draw of the wand from between her breasts and a simple spell saved the Zerbst from the fate of her comrades.

"What was that? I need to get out of here!"

The two met up in the hallway only moments before all doors were smashed open, revealing grotesque wand wielding mutants who surrounded them and charged. The duo managed to fight off the ones nearest to them after figuring out the bubbly thing was their weak point. Luckily near a window, Tabitha called for Sylphid and got on with Kirche.

However, under the false impression they were safe, they circled the sky above the academy searching for survivors before the Alpha Form leapt from the top of a tower to strike. A wide gash was slashed through Sylphid's wing, disabling her flight permanently for the duration of the battle. The dragon tried its best to land safely but at the expense of itself, smashing into the ground headfirst against a wall

The flood jumped out from the windows they entered, swarming around the crash site, having already consumed most of the living organisms in the structure. Some combat forms also ran out from the staff and teacher dormitories, clearly larger in size due to their adult hosts. Outnumbered and cut off, the duo fought their last stand.

"I never thought I'd die in Tristain but I suppose dying with you isn't too bad."

"Agreed."

Ice and fire melded together in a violent fury of attacks. Kirche burned as many as possible while Tabitha took down those who braved the flames and survived or jumped overhead. Their fight was for naught however as the magic directive was sent into the minds of the infected nobles once the Alpha form approached and the flood forms began casting spells.

Even they wouldn't be able to survive the onslaught eternally and after a valiant minute of dodging and countering, one of them slipped up. Distracted for a fraction of a second from her friend's cry, the suppressed flood managed to make it through a gap in the wall of flames. Without anymore willpower or even physical strength to hold out, the two joined the fold.

They weren't the only ones however, six ambitious infection forms made their way to the dragon's body and burrowed through the soft underbelly. The body thrashed as the six forms synchronized with the central nervous system and it began to mutate. The wings cracked and melded with its arms which became slack while retaining the claws.

The legs were lengthened and head shrunken to non-existence. The result was a towering form with spiked tentacles for arms connected to the body at two points after splitting. This form was the Juggernaut, normally requiring multiple hosts to create causing it to be deemed an inefficient usage of human and covenant biomass, it was never used during the war.

The form did, however, make frequent appearances on the battlefield during the Forerunner-Flood war when the flood had access to large animals high in calcium on the surface of certain planets. Pleased with their progress, the Alpha Form commanded his forces to leave and they marched towards the capital.

Chaos broke out as the civilians all became food for the parasite and the guards became virtually paralyzed with fear, watching powerlessly as the people were consumed, only serving to further the infection which spread like wildfire through the slums. The two months of preparation weren't in vain as the fifty strong army moved through the city, cutting down all enemies with their mutated whip like arms before letting the infection forms mop up the survivors and the dead.

The nobles and merchants fled for the castle or reinforced their homes as the crisis unfolded while the poor were used as distractions to prolong the inevitable. By the time the flood fought its way to the merchant district, their numbers were innumerous, completely swarming any perceivable threat.

Behind the front lines and commanding the charge as chief co-ordinator was the Alpha Form who occasionally would hear the whimpering of hidden survivors missed by the others and blow up their cover, allowing the scurrying infection forms access. Forced to watch a whole new level of carnage, what remained of Louise's sanity crumbled.

Once they broke through to the merchant's district in the earnest, the Alpha felt a strange sensation as it felt one of the forms cease to function. The information relayed to him showed that enemies wielding firearms were deployed. The bullets seemed primitive and normally wouldn't have phased the flood but a well placed shot burst the infection form in the chest cavity. Another would take its place of course, but things were heating up.

The front line strategic team charged forward into the female musketeers and successfully overwhelmed them with sheer numbers, a clear shot impossible with so much movement. Once the enemies in the immediate area were neutralized, they pushed further up into the cloud district where heavy noble resistance was met and protected by meat shield guards.

Cries of anger were shouted as the nobles yelled at their guards for their incompetence before they transformed into cries of desperation when nothing stood between them and the flood, leaving the noble to fight on his own. It was here that every victory greatly boosted the flood's offensive strength, each noble still able to use most of his spells after rising back up and the damage done to the bodies felled were usually not too extreme that it could not be reanimated.

Secluded in her castle and watching the slaughter unfold from the highest balcony, the Princess felt a hand on her shoulder and looked back to see General Gramont with a solemn look on his face. The comfort of his palm soon left as he turned to continue preparations for the final defense in hopes of aid arriving from either Romania or Germania.

'We must hold out, I believe that help will arrive!'

That hope grew dimmer and dimmer as the infected plowed through the city's defenses easily. It finally turned into despair when the Juggernaut made it's way to the front line and began to tear into the already devastated line of defense. Nothing was left in the flood's path, everything consumed by the wave of infection forms sweeping through the noble district.

By noon, two hours after the attack began, the flood started smashing against the reinforced castle doors. Behind the door stood the remnants of the royal guard not yet deployed to defend the city. Most feared for their lives as the pounding continued. An ominous droning could be heard within the deeper reaches of the castle as the infection forms infiltrated the building through the windows.

The Juggernaut made it to the door shortly after destroying some buildings hiding survivors and its strong arms easily punctured huge holes in the wooden door. The door eventually gave way and the parasite flooded in, rending anything in its path. The tiny battalion of guards did nothing to save them from destruction and the flood swiftly infected all but a small portion of the entire castle.

In the final sanctuary, the Queen's room, stood four people, Princess Henrietta, General Gramont, Count Mazarin and Queen Marianne. Praying to the founder, they prepared to fight to their last. When the doors crashed, they unleashed their magic. Pushing them back slightly, the regular combat forms piled up before the mage forms took the front. The one ahead of the others shocked them.

"Son?!"

A gurgling groan was his only reply before he leapt towards the General with his tentacle arm swinging.

The experienced combatant dodged but could only look on in horror as his son's broken neck caused his head to lie sideways. The disgusting protruding veins all over the head and running down the body didn't help either. Steeling his heart like the fighter he was, an earth spike impaled the body to the roof, popping the infection form on its way up.

With a heavy heart, the man continued his defence, making up for his distraction earlier. Even countering everything thrown at them with their own, they could not survive. Their willpower waned and their spirit faltered. Whatever remained of their hope only served to throw them deeper into despair.

And so Tristain fell… Flood spreading all over the country, infecting villages and encampments.

* * *

A/N: Firstly, sorry for the lack of speech, not much I can do now in that aspect unless you want just a bunch of screaming. Secondly, I apologize for the fast pacing but I doubt you want me to write chapter after chapter of infected Louise's time in the wild killing stags and rabbits or something. Judging by the current speed, the story could very well end in about five chapters unless I prolong it through filler and politics like Freedom and Democracy.

As always, review, favourite and follow if you've enjoyed. Don't forget to check out my other stories, community and poll as well. Story status information can be found on my profile and you can make suggestions on my forum. Moving on to reviews, has it really been eight months since I last updated? Damn...

* * *

 _Reichtangle: Can louise become the new gravemind? That could be cool._

I have plans for Louise

 _WinstontheNinja: Three words: They're so F**KED!_

Well said.

 _Boyzilla: Well... They're doomed._

Meh, they had it coming.

 _Xenongaf: Please, continue, I want to see where this is going, but is Louise going to die?_

Here's your continuation, albeit after way too long, and as you can see, she isn't exactly dead, likely more insane than Betelgeuse of Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu, but technically still alive.

 _Forsaken139: Well this won't end well._

It really won't.

 _Guest: I love the idea please continue with longer chapters please._

This chapter, excluding review response, is a little below three thousand. The first one is expectedly shorter, it's just a preview after all.

 _freeleadforall: Yes hehehe DIE YOU STAGNANT INCOMPETENT MAGIC USING FOOLS. Here take a cookie and a follow._

Yay food, could use it, am sick so need energy.

 _McCree114: The Flood forced the Forerunner, the galaxy's most powerful and advanced civilization, to commit suicide via galaxy wide euthanasia just to stop it. Even with powerful magic the humans, mages, and elves of this world are far too primitive compared to the enemies the Flood is used to fighting; Forerunner, Covenant, and UNSC. They stand "Zero" chance._

 _Please do continue this._

That much is very apparent just from this chapter, but maybe a certain force will intervene? Here's your continuation by the way.

 _pyrothekid: This has a rather good chance of being something great so please continue this._

I hope it lived up to the expectation.

 _davycrockett100: Awesome._

Indeed.

 _m: I think this is going to be a great story._

I hope it is.


	3. Chapter 3: Loyalists

A/N: The flooding continues...

* * *

A proto-gravemind was suspended within the Queen's chamber. Comprising of the four survivors who were held up in the room, their body outlines still visibly sticking out of the large flood biomass. The Alpha Form watched on as it wondered why it was not influenced in any way by the brain form. Perhaps it only held true to its directive, the flooding of this planet.

It briefly wondered why it even had free thought in the first place but shoved the thought aside to focus on the next battle's preparation. Such ideas could be entertained after it completed its original directive. A new thought surfaced in its mind when it walked past the room's dressing mirror.

Her academy uniform was tattered, having not changed out of it at all. As for more organic features, aside from the protruding veins and greenish hue the skin adopted along with a noticeable increase in height, the host's body had not been altered at all, still retaining most of its human features. Another mystery which the flood form dismissed for later ponderance in favour of completing its mission.

Surrendering control of most of the flood to the proto-gravemind, the Alpha Form took a small team of infected nobles to secure a ship from port La Rochelle in order to invade the floating continent found in the memories of various infected. They would also be useful for going across the ocean in the future and so grabbing more than one would be greatly beneficial.

Relentlessly, the army of infected charged for their destination, followed closely behind by the force dispatched by the brain form to take the city. Multiple smaller groups had also been sent to the smaller towns and villages around the country, all with the same purpose, feed. Two larger forms, Juggernauts, stuck out in the crowd of flood, formed from the dead Tristain dragons.

Breaking through any defenses the city had, the Alpha Form's strike force made it's way towards the large tree where the ships were docked. The destruction of the city could be left to the main army, they needed to take down the ship captains before they escaped with the transports. Jumping high and landing on rooftops, the infected nobles fired off spells at random civilians.

Their appearance terrified all those nearby, just like how the infected marines of the UNSC broke their comrades. Powering through the little resistance present, the Alpha Form lunged at the lowest boat while its pawns made their way up to the higher branches of the tree and secured the ships. By then, the first line of defense in the city had been wiped out by the attack force.

Confident their objective was complete, the Alpha Form left a few flood to guard the base of the tree while taking off with the rest to wreak more havoc. Making his way to the main manor of the city, enjoying the screams along the way, the flood saw the Juggernauts tear down building after building in their path as the monstrosities made their way to the remaining humans.

With one final leap, the Alpha Form cast a spell and detonated the roof of the target building, causing debris to rain down on those below and opening a path for his fellow flood to land. An ear splitting cross of a moan and a howl erupted from its throat as the flood form directed its allies towards the most prominently decorated exterior door where the noble resided, cowering while his guards laid down their lives.

Finishing off the remaining guards who still remained loyal and protected their lord, the Alpha Form contemplated how it so efficiently dispatched his foes without the mutations his fellows possessed. It seemed that its speed and strength were a lot higher than that of regular combat forms despite still having many of the physical impairments humans had.

Looking around the building unsure of what it was doing, the Alpha Form wandered around as it let go of command of his team, returning control to the proto-gravemind. By the time it got out of its semi-conscious state, the flood form clutched its face and tried to understand his earlier actions, to no avail. Frustrated at its incompetence, it left the building and continued with the flooding.

* * *

Cromwell continued to narrow his eyes as the man before him continued to prattle on and on about the monsters he saw heading towards Tristain. The man had apparently made an escape after towards from the magic academy to scout it ahead for the Princess' visit and after witnessing the army march along the path which could have only come from the school and lead to the capital, he took off towards the port to return here to tell his master.

He spoke of them as walking corpses yet unlike the traditional zombies. Cromwell didn't really pay attention to the rambling man after he started spitting out some nonsense about possessed mages but nonetheless pretended to look like he was listening for the sake of making it look like the benevolent leader was willing to hear all claims regardless of how outlandish they sounded.

"Their faces! Even from a distance I could still be disgusted."

'Ugh, how much longer is he going to go on for? It's been ten minutes of this non-stop rambling...'

"And their necks! Their necks were all snapped and limp! That's not even the worst part, their tentacles were horrifying! Their arms were all mutated into tentacles like whips!"

'Alright, I don't think he has anything left to say, he should stop now.'

"Then there was this huge one!"

'Oh Brimir…'

"It was easily the size of an earth golem! The skin was somewhat blue and I suspect it was the Gallian girl's dragon which was mentioned in the summoning report I received."

'Really? Even necromancy has its limits, it can't control a body as large as a dragon's. Not even the greatest necromancer recorded managed to raise just the bones of a dragon and here he's claiming that someone managed to raise the entire dragon...'

"It was mutated just like the rest though!"

'Someone stop him…'

"It's arms and wings merged together, forming two long tentacles at either side with clawed tips! Then the nobles, they wielded wands! They might be able to use the magic of the possessed noble children!"

It was at this point that the guards gave up and moved to restrain him. The two standing at the nearest pillars stepped forward and grabbed his arms.

"That's enough Wardes, our lord may be kind enough to listen to you go on and on about your story but he has other matters to attend to so we'll escort you out."

'Finally!'

"No wait! Just one more sentence!"

The guards stopped, looking to Cromwell who reluctantly gestured allowance with his hand.

"Thank you."

Turning to Cromwell, the man spoke, more composed than before.

"We must prepare, my lord, they may be upon us at any moment, please…"

And so he was dragged away, the large chamber doors closing behind him.

'I suppose I should actually look into his ridiculous claim if he's going to be so insistent on it…'

"Guard."

The nearest guard stepped forward and genuflected in front of his leader.

"Yes my lord?"

"Send word to the docks to send a scout ship to La Rochelle, make sure it has enough air stones for a round trip."

"It shall be done."

The guard immediately left to carry out his lord's will.

'If nothing else, this will give me some insight onto what exactly made one of my most trusted subordinates into such a mess and I needed to scout Tristain anyway for after the remaining loyalists are defeated. Now, I'll need to work on preparations to invade Tristain without Wardes…'

* * *

As the Alpha Form exited the mansion through a nearby window, it caught sight of a ship descending from the cloud line. Commandeering control of some nearby flood combat forms and willing them to have five infection forms latch onto them each, he made his way towards the tree again, grabbing some mage forms along the way as he moved across the roofs, his team following behind.

With a proper squad now, he scaled the tree again and went up onto the highest branch, waiting for the ship to reach its furthest. The carnage from below would be visible to some extent so unless they were suicidal, the ship wouldn't dock. Somewhere in between the skies, the ship stopped its course and began to turn. Timing the jump, the flood forms took off and the mages launched spells as they glided.

Landing on the back of the ship once it had completed its turn, the flood forms began to wreak havoc on the ship. Tossing the infection forms first to cause confusion before advancing on them. With nowhere to run, the crew could only try their best to fight back. Eventually the enemy only consisted of the mage leader and he too was taken down.

Having now the knowledge to pilot the ship on board, the Alpha Form issued orders to his team and began to return the ship back from whence it came. On course to Albion ahead of schedule, their leader looked down to see the progress of the city's flooding and saw that they would still take a while to fully clear it. This meant that reinforcements would be a while away, he had to play it safe to some extent if he wanted to have control of some territory to act as a deployment zone.

Properly infecting the bodies and removing anything of strategic value on the ship, the flood gathered on the porch and landed in the night on a smaller hidden outcrop of land below the island rather than the heavily populated and well defended docks. Sending an infection form as a scout, they found the area above to be a castle.

There seemed to be an armed group present but mages were few and far inbetween. More infection forms were sent while the flood prepared to charge, crawling onto the ceiling directly above their targets before dropping together and latching onto the backs of the unfortunate nobles.

"Agh!"

Similar cries could be heard throughout the dining hall from all nobles save one who had destroyed the infection form beforehand while it was in the corner of the balcony, thinking it a spy sent from the rebels. The flood took this as the signal and stormed the room, attacking the distracted soldiers. The lone remaining noble, the Prince, stood strong and quickly rallied his troops.

"To arms my brothers! We aimed to die tomorrow but it seems death has granted us a favour! Let us fight to the last tonight, grab your weapons and push them back, we won't go quietly!"

Cheers of fervour erupted from the men as some grabbed the wall mounted spears, shields and swords to create the front line defense while others ran off to the armory to grab their equipment. The noble himself regulated his willpower and used his wind spells sparingly against the seemingly unrelenting enemy which shrugged off any damage done like it was a mere annoyance at best.

He would get a lucky and hit the infection form once in a while, popping it, but the battle was fierce and a clear shot was impossible. His men were unable to target the weak points either as their tentacles often had no problem breaking off from the attack to defend. The infected mages at the back also assisted in the destruction as spells flew. After a good amount of time playing dead, the mages taken into the fold earlier rose as well and began to take down vulnerable targets.

They were eventually cut down but divided the enemy's attention in the meantime. Cannon shots would rock the castle occasionally and cause rumbles as the loyalist's captured flagship, the Eagle renamed Lexicon, fired off harassing volleys before the final assault the next day. The crew, oblivious to the bee hive they were stirring, snickered as the walls of Newcastle strained to withstand the periodic abuse.

With patriotic abandon, the soldiers fought to their last, unwavering even under the constant need to fight their recently lost comrades, their leader fanatical about their noble last stand. Dawn soon broke as the suicidal team held off the flood advance through the night, giving ground at a slow rate.

But of course, no matter how hard the loyalists fought, they would not win against the flood, lacking the technology needed to properly destroy the bodies. Charging onwards to the promised land, the albionese soldiers slowly got their wish and by noon, only Prince Wales remained, his sword blunt and battered from all the fighting.

"I suppose this is an interesting outcome, if not unexpected."

The Alpha Form got his troops to halt, letting the man speak as commendation for a tenacity that rivaled the UNSC marines.

"It's impossible for you to be rebels so I want to know, what exactly are you?"

Willing it like the gravemind was able, the collective voices of the flood, old and new, resounded throughout the building, seemingly echoing from everywhere.

"Do not be afraid. I am peace, I am salvation."

The noble gripped his head as it pulsed from the message seemingly coming from his own mind.

"You are important, you shan't have the same fate as the others, not yet…"

Wales blacked out as he was taken down by the flood combat forms. The flood prepared their defenses as knowledge of the day's siege was siphoned from the minds of some soldiers. Infection forms creeped around the entrance of the castle and above the doorway as some of the flood forms laid still around the floor.

The enemy burst in moments just as preparations completed and they looked around only to find everyone dead. Moving cautiously and checking the bodies, they identified that the loyalists must have committed mass suicide by way of party poison last night, supported by the fact that their skin was all greenish and veins bulging.

It was only when the flood were sure the troop had fully entered that they would strike. The infection forms dropped down on their unsuspecting victims below. The unmutated combat forms stood up and their arms burst into tentacles, prepared to take down the rebels. There were no survivors as screams could be heard by the soldiers outside Newcastle who rushed to break down the flood fortified door.

With their numbers bolstered, the flood prepared for the next wave of attackers once the door was breached, once again allowing them to gain ground before cutting them off from the outside, methodically taking them down. This didn't occur a third time as the rebels wisened up to the strategy and the Lexicon was brought into the fight, firing off shots at the door and demolishing it permanently.

Pouring in akin to how the flood did themselves, the rebels charged the enemy. The battle was long and the war of attrition only favoured the infected. Slowly though, the flood were pushed back, having run out of infection forms and their team being cut off from the others. Isolated and injured after all the fighting, they held fast, the Alpha Form himself joining the fray with explosions rocketing off its wand every second.

Pushed back to the small outcrop by sheer numbers alone, the flood faced near annihilation from the enemy force. Soon, all that remained was the Alpha Form. Surrounded by the soldiers and backed into a corner, it lowered its wand and stood strong, a gargle coming from its throat as it attempted to speak.

"Do you think me defeated?!"

The soldiers' heads ached slightly as the lone voice resounded within their skulls.

"I have beaten fleets of thousands! Consumed a galaxy of flesh and mind and bone!"

"Give up monster, you can't beat us!"

The Alpha Form seemingly sighed.

"Resignation is my virtue, like water I ebb, and flow. Defeat is simply the addition of time to a sentence I never deserved, but your kind imposed."

The knights readied their spears to charge as the infected leader seemed to surrender.

"However! This is not my grave... It is yours…"

Just as he said that, a fleet of ships appeared out of the cloud line, all carrying a seemingly endless flood of infected, some already jumping to his side. Now afraid for their lives, having witnessed first hand how difficult it was to defeat just a small group of flood, the surviving rebels slowly backed away.

"Side by side we march as one... Humans and Mages will die, this world will fall if we strike together... And so forth shall all of life..."

The flood counter attack began.

* * *

A/N: So Albion is now under siege! Chapter four is about half completed at this time so the next chapter shouldn't take too long unless I end up stuck which is a somewhat likely possibility.

As always, review, favourite and follow if you've enjoyed. Don't forget to check out my other stories, community and poll as well. Story status information can be found on my profile and you can make suggestions on my forum. Now on to the reviews.

* * *

 _Legionnas: Complete and total extinction of all non flood based life forms._

But of course.

 _Reishin Amara: It's interesting if you actually read the origins of the flood on the wikia...especially when you learn they are originally precursors...(wonder if Louise could begin accessing that knowledge eventually...?)_

That much I know, though I don't know about how I would properly fit that into the story so I likely won't delve into it too much.

 _The Keeper of Worlds: An intense story, and if you've played Prototype, well, Louise just became the new patient zero mother. Hmmm, Gravemother. Interesting idea, and maybe she can mutate those like Henrietta into companion forms? What does Louise even look like now? Aged up, nude, and with tentacles on back? What?_

I supposed I should have described her, just did in this chapter. As for Gravemother, I don't think Louise actually has any control over the flood yet, or will any time soon.

 _Forsaken 139: [Slow, Sarcastic, Claps] Good for you Karin, a pinnacle of motherhood if ever I saw one... not._

 _Yep... that went as 'well' for the humans as to be expected._

 _I wonder if the Spirits, Elves, or another force will put a dent in the Flood's forces—not defeat for none can purge the Flood fully without complete annihilation tactics._

Well the flood live through futuristic bullets and plasma, it is to be expected that muskets are minimally useful at best. As for spirits, it is actually very interesting because I have no clue how I am going to portray them lol. I suppose they will actually be one of the last remaining things on the planet since they are basically the world itself.

Elves are a very interesting concept since like, I don't know if the magic shield thing they use are actually exhaustible. For nobles it is pretty straight forward, they'll run out of willpower eventually and then their easy pickings. For elves though, it seems like it is the spirits themselves which are being utilized so it is actually rather challenging to determine how long they can last…

 _Paktu: You sadistic ba***rd I love you :D keep it up gonna follow and maybe even add to favorites._

Cool, glad to have you.

 _SilverTejp: Please don't have something appear just to save them, I want to see "evil" win and not the stupid "Good prevails in the end" cliché_

 _And the pacing could be a little slower so we can see everyone slowly lose hope. But that's not a complaint mind you, only a suggestion._

 _Keep up the amazing work and this will become one of the best fanfics on this site :)_

Who said anything about whatever appearing winning? I actually meant something like a stray UNSC ship comes along and helps them hold out just a little longer. I could throw in the forerunners or something but I have something else in mind…

For the pacing, I plan to add some Louise segments to slow the chapter count down, not much I can do regarding the flooding, though I tried this chapter.

Surely you jest, I need like a thousand followers to even be eligible to compete as one of the more decent stories, this is just some crazy story some guy is writing in his free time since he is a sadist who loves to see the world destroyed. Literally, all my stories are world breakers due to overpowered characters being introduced with crack sprinkled for added effect.

 _Kinunatzs: Ok, this is an interesting take for a ZoT and Halo crossover anyway nice chapter and more please._

Thanks, here.

 _Akshka: You should continue this, it is really good, update soon :)_

I am, enjoy.

 _New Universe Returns: I have a feeling that this story will end, pretty pretty soon._

 _Can you also do a Half-Life x Familiar of Zero crossover?_

 _[Insert Super Long Story Idea Here]_

Well Halkeginia will be destroyed pretty easily but like I mentioned in Freedom and Democracy, if anyone here follows it, I will expand the story to beyond the continent for the sake of completeness, will be including dwarves and similar races. Do suggest a race if you want it to possibly be flooded.

Truth be told I actually haven't played Half-Life, no idea of the story either but if I ever do I'll look at your idea again and consider it seriously.

 _Guest: Ah, I see you chose to have Louise end up like private Jenkins. Partially alive and conscious throughout the entire ordeal, though at least here she's numb to her body instead of feeling nonstop pain as the Flood uses her as a weapon like Jenkins was._

 _I'd very much like to see the c**ksure elves get owned by the Flood. Either by a zerg swarm of infection forms storming across the desert or the self proclaimed 'human researcher' Luctiana getting infected while sneaking around human lands and bringing it back to the capital._

Yup, though it isn't all happiness and rainbows for her just because it doesn't hurt physically. As stated above, Elves could possibly survive until they starve purely based on their shields seemingly being infinite. The researcher being infected is an interesting route though, will consider it when I finally reach that stage.

 _A Random Troll: Magic using Flood. Will they start developing a 100% magical army? Not like they need it of course to conquer such a stagnant, stuck up, and unprepared world as this._

I see humans and mages as two different species, mages being fundamentally different compared to humans and so they are unable to manifest magic in commoners. Besides, like you said, they don't need it, yet.


	4. Chapter 4: Psych

A/N: This chapter is going to be a bit different, think of it as an intermission I suppose. Remember how I said it was half completed? Well it was 90% done like four months ago and I just sorta tossed it into some deep dark flood infected corner and forgot about it until just recently. Now that I've rescued this story from the gravemind, hopefully it won't send the guardians after me once I leave it again. I also extended the chapter by about 30% to make up for the delay and hopefully the next chapter won't take forever again.

* * *

It had been fun, at first she was disturbed with the killing of the gentle animals but eventually got used to it. When she first witnessed another person spasm, transforming through a round skull sized organism burrowing into his chest, she would have thrown up everything she had eaten in her life had she control of her body. Now though, it was almost as if it were an everyday occurrence to her.

The droning from the skull sized tentacled things no longer bothered her like it did at first, becoming rather soothing, like a melody which rung throughout the forest. It disgusted her that such a creepy sound was turning normal for her but was dragged from her thoughts when a noble came into view.

Taking a closer look, the one before her was a student of the academy, and a third year judging by the cape. She then remembered they were near the academy, she saw it when her body leapt sky high and landed in this forest after fleeing her family estate. After the routine attack and infestation however, was something unexpected, she picked up the noble's wand and attempted to cast a spell, creating an explosion.

'So I can still use my magic? Well not that it'll be any good since it seems I haven't improved at all.'

The next moment, her body rallied the other flood and began moving at a fast speed towards somewhere deep in the forest. What transpired later was unsettlingly brutal as Louise saw, through the eyes of her body, bloated goblins being hosts to grow more of those skull like things which were used to transform people.

Later that night, while her mind was unconscious and sleeping, her body began to move. Stirred from her slumber, Louise tried to grasp the situation as best as she could with her groggy mind still adjusting from the sudden burst of activity. By the time she could clearly understand what was going on amidst the screams, infected versions of her ex-classmates surrounded her as they moved towards something bright.

'Is that…'

A ring of flames protected two lone figures as the occasional ice spike shot out, further amplifying the glare. Recognizing them now that she was closer, it was indeed Kirche and Tabitha holding out in a valiant last stand with Sylphid heavily wounded behind them. The noble still remaining in Louise wanted her to struggle against the control to help her fellow students but a darker part of her wanted to see the redhead suffer.

Reasoning that the control was absolute after a short resistance, Louise mentally sat back and saw the scene unfold, the monsters throwing magic at them. The two were slowly overwhelmed by the unending stream of flood and they too, joined the fold. Disappointed that they died because there would be no one to speak to, Louise rested her mind again, completely ignoring the present situation.

Before drifting off into dreams again, Louise questioned why the thing controlling her was doing this and why she wasn't the least bit freaked out in any way by what it was doing. The slimy tentacled students, teachers around her were no longer disturbing. It was actually rather concerning, though thinking it through, Louise eventually concluded that the sickness had done something to her.

She wasn't complaining though, it would have been terrible to still be affected by all this murder and mutation without the ability to do anything but watch and slowly lose her sanity more than it was likely already lost. What happened next caught her completely off guard. With so many screams echoing into her dream, the Alpha Form's host was awakened and she looked around to see herself in the capital terrorizing civilians.

'No!'

Her faith to Brimir still strong, she cried out in pain when she saw her body, and many others, literally rip people in half without any remorse.

'Their going to attack the Princess! I need to stop whatever is controlling me!'

Resisting with all her mental strength, she tried her best to break through but alas could not. While she resisted, her feelings seemed to resurface and she couldn't control stop herself from feeling sick when people around her started to spasm while the small round ones burrowed into them. Unable to close her eyes, she couldn't keep focused for any longer than five seconds before her mental need to mentally heave broke her concentration.

When she finally reached the Queen's chamber and saw the infected swarm, her fervour reignited seeing the Princess struggle to survive. Fighting against the control as much as possible, willing herself to do something, anything, Louise tried to stop the flood from taking her one and only friend. She failed.

A flood infection form had an opening and managed to jump onto the General's face, quickly disabling him. With their defense taken down, the three remaining stood no chance as they were swiftly taken in. Even then Louise still tried to resist, wanting to at least put the Princess out of her misery.

It was when multiple combat forms started changing into a strange goop right in front of her eyes, making a large suspended cocoon that she started to panic more. As she had feared, the bodies of the room's previous occupants were thrown into it while more flood forms melted to seal the cocoon, the bodies within reanimated just enough to be able to consciously draw information from. As Louise gazed upon the permanently frozen facial outline of terrified Henrietta, she broke.

For the longest time, the flood form just stood there, as if knowing that she didn't want to look at it and doing so on purpose to torture her. After what felt like an eternity of waiting, her body finally turned away but stopped when it reached the mirror, deciding to examine itself. Finally gazing on herself after all this time, she saw the monstrosity she had become.

While not mutated beyond recognition like the others, the greenish hue of her skin reminded her of zombies raised from necromancy and the pulsating protruding veins only served to further increase the disgust she felt from gazing upon her new self. But by far the most disturbing part was her smile.

Stuck permanently on her face was just this smile, slanted and wide eyed, her face only supported the creepiness. It was a look you would find on a psychopath who had just finished a torture session with his favourite victim after a long break spent torturing others who just never felt the same. It was unsettling, the way the smile was positioned to suggest whoever controlling her enjoyed the act very much.

The last ounce of sanity remaining in her slipped away as she focused on that smile, her sight seemingly forced to stare at it as it sucked her in. The eyes didn't help either as Louise was unable to focus on anything but either the smile or eyes, those wide, soul piercing eyes which seemed to gaze into her very being, criticizing her for not helping her friend...

Unable to properly think anymore, her weak mind went blank, completely ignoring anything else in the world. It was only much later that she regained some form of consciousness, all around her, the world was falling apart as buildings burned and explosions were heard far and wide from what little resistance remained by harnessing the power of cannons and firearms.

It was the only thing which kept them alive since, unlike willpower, it depended solely on physical projectiles and could be used endlessly so long as ammo existed whereas willpower was easily depleted over time in the fight with the never ending flood. Finding herself able to move, she shuffled towards the sounds of battle and saw as a Juggernaut tearing through a line of musketeers who were unable to flee in time in favour of firing off another volley.

The small amount of territory maintained by the humans was reduced to an even smaller area as they struggled to protect the next checkpoint. Reaching out to the survivors despite the immeasurable distance, the scenery changed, as if she were going through a warp tunnel, all the background whizzing past her as she got closer to the unstable watchtower being attacked by multiple combat forms while others charged through.

Trying to get even closer, the world suddenly shook, holes opening all around. In an attempt to dodge, Louise jumped around the unstable looking parts but eventually was trapped and could only wait for her demise. After falling through the abyss for some time, she suddenly regained sight and tried to move forward while her eyes adjusted to the light.

She seemed to be in some noble's manor. There were sounds of fear and destruction coming outside the walls as she wandered around the hallways. Then, just as suddenly as she arrived, she was wrenched back into the darkness, up the abyss and continued to dream, wondering if what happened before was part of a dream as well…

* * *

Requests had just come in from the few Tristain who survived and fled to other countries. They all sought an audience with the leaders to inform them of the invasion but were denied on grounds of insanity, some even thrown in the cells. Thus the threat was ignored despite the desperate pleas of those who knew and the truth of the terror on the horizon would only be taken seriously once their own people and traders either failed to return or became rambling messes like the Tristainians.

However, that is a story for another time, now is the telling of the fate of a certain academy's survivors. While it was never explicitly made known, one had to be pretty well trained to work at a noble's academy, able to act as substitute bodyguards in a crisis. Now obviously, in a true emergency no commoner would even think of giving their lives for the noble brats they were serving but they were indeed capable fighters should the situation arise.

Butlers and other male employees were generally trained as what would be known as monks in another world's context, fist fighters utilizing their own body to take out their enemies. On the other hand, the females who were largely maids, were trained to be reconnaissance and silent strikers, or so called ninjas and shinobi while the less agile would receive firearms training so that they wouldn't be completely useless in a fight.

The academy staff all had secretly agreed amongst themselves long ago that should any attack on the school ground happen which would lead to certain destruction, there was no point in everyone dying together and so they would all flee and meet up near the Germanian border. Since most servants had to work through the night, it was them who managed to sound the alarm bell of the school but, as agreed, ringed it an additional two times more than protocol to signify a true emergency.

Following this, the commoner combat force grabbed their equipment if possible and fought through the waves of unknown enemies which for some reason were focused on the nobles rather than commoners, as if the leader had explicitly ordered for all mages to be wiped out as a number one priority.

Soon the ex-employees fought off their pursuers and regrouped at the location they had marked on their maps beforehand. A roll call was conducted after no one else joined and it seemed that only about half of them, mostly the maids as one would expect, made it out. No, it was more accurate to say half of them actually managed to make it out from that hellhole of zombies unlike any seen before.

Deciding to high tail it before the enemy realized they disappeared, the strange band of travelling servants made their way through the open plains towards Germania. At the front of the herd was Marteau, the head chef at the academy, better known as Mart the Mighty from his days as an adventurer. Trained in the art of the sword from young as a necessity to survive the slums, the young boy easily grew into a force to be reckoned with by adulthood and made a name for himself as one of the best the guild had to offer before retiring early in pursuit of better food which he never had as a lad.

Marteau eventually found himself working for the academy since they paid well and ordered generously but soon regretted it once he saw the sheer amount of wastage after every meal, loathing to cook for the nobles he had agreed to feed. Finally feeling the adrenaline pumping again after years of peace, the former chef wielded a well maintained great sword on his back while cautiously, yet still swiftly, advancing towards the border while protecting his comrades...

* * *

A/N: Sorry if the Louise part isn't well done, not particularly good with psychological aspects of a story, better in the ridiculous ideas department. As you can tell, instead of feeling constant physical pain like Jenkins, Louise suffers a different kind of torture which is worse in its own right. At least Jenkins had some military training, Louise is just some spoiled kid and so feels powerless the most important things to her in the world have been destroyed, taken by the one controlling her.

As always, review, favourite and follow if you've enjoyed. Don't forget to check out my other stories, community and poll as well. Story status information can be found on my profile and you can make suggestions on my forum. Next is the delayed reviews I guess.

* * *

 _The Keeper of Worlds: Not bad at all, it was a good description, and shows just how much of the core that is Louise remained after the infection. In some sense._

Thanks!

 _king Quinn The Last Heir: It seems Albion is screwed but joseph king of gallie have magic bombs that are like a nuke in a way and it vaporizer anything in it's path so maybe gallic will last longer_

I'm pretty sure those required "Explosion" to activate which is in the hands of the flood now so if anything, once they take over Gallia, they'll take their stash of nukes and use it themselves lol.

 _Quelthias: I feel like I am playing pandemic, let the infection grow!_

Pandemic has cures while, unfortunately for them, this doesn't.

 _Salvare: I'm interested what does Derf think about the whole situation. Would he feel Alpha Form as his "partner" if they had met? Also I know nothing about Halo aside from franchise face Master Chief, but I've heard Flood can infect (corrupt?) AI somehow, so is the chatty sword susceptible as well?_

You make a good point but I'll most likely not be including Derf into this story. However, I will consider it.

 _ARcan: I predict that at the end, a small UNSC patrol group would end in the orbit of Halkeginia and start dropping nukes and kinetic strike indiscriminately, until the whole planet surface looks like Mars._

Good prediction, but that is assuming I intend a happy ending.

 _Akshka: I am looking at the reviews at the bottom and the gravemother idea if you don't want to do that on this fic make another one where that happens cuse that is awesome anyways I really like please continue_

Lol gravemother, that would be something else but I'll leave it to someone somewhere else to write that story, sorry.

 _Guest: Please just have the flood win I really want a flood Galaxy_

Sure they'll win, just not sure if it'll spread to a galactic scale lol...

 _McCree114: Regarding elves keep in mind that not all elves know how to use the counter spell that makes them invulnerable, at least to weapons of their world. IIRC only council/senate members can use it as well as high level and experienced military officers. Luctiana, her fiance Ari, and Ari's friend Madarf would be completely vulnerable as far as infection forms are concerned. They go skulking around infected human territory and it's lunch time for infection forms. Most elf civilians and basic infantry will be just as vulnerable for that matter._

 _Also the shield is not really indestructible as I recall Saito using an Earth weapon of some sort to break Bidashal's counterspell. If anything the spell works like a really buffed overshield._

 _Last thing. Along with the fact that the Flood will eventually discover the void's ability to create a World Door to other galaxies/dimensions, the elves harbor a magic gate which may have the same ability. The consumption of Halkeginia may seem harmless due to their lack of space faring technology but in reality the entire multiverse may be screwed._

Oh the bit on only higher ranked can use it is very interesting and informative so I thank you for that. As for Saito, I recall he used enchanted Derf to break the personal version and an enchanted flak cannon to pierce the giant golem version. If you could show me the part where Saito actually did manage it with an Earth weapon I would be grateful but until then I will treat Counter as if it is invulnerable.

 _UDLLORD: well I hope to see tiffania westwood and children which is in albion now be infected lolz_

Evil man, wanting to see innocents get infected, not that I'm good lol…

 _A Random Troll: I heartily agree with the consensus for the Familiar of Zero world (I don't actually know the name of their world/planet, what is it?) to be utterly consumed, no deus ex machina to save their world. However, consider the following:_

 _Why not have a UNSC ship come along near the end? They can't and therefore don't save the world, but they could possibly evac a few survivors, I'd encourage OCs as you've gloriously murdered pretty much the entire canon cast now (not like it's a bad thing). Said survivors' stories could then make for a nice follow-up series should you desire. Also serves to knock nobles down yet another peg because the UNSC gives Zero (pun intended) fucks about your stuck up nobility bloodline and your prissy magic tricks are nothing before 26th-century planet-devastating weaponry, and the UNSC has the strength to back this up against such a primitive, stagnant culture, especially with how anything they'd recover would be in complete tatters._

 _Alternately, Arby and friends (and ginormous fleet) show up to glass the planet, no survivors, no mercy. LET THE GALAXY BUUUUUURN! Oh, sorry, wrong franchise. But still, it's not like you're pulling the punches on these people or anything, right_

I call it Halk, following Tech of Zero which was sadly discontinued. You pose a very fun scenario and yea I sorta realized the "killed the entire cast part" was actually what I did lol but don't worry, as seen above, I didn't kill everyone since OCs aren't easy for my mind to conjure lol.

 _The Weeping Prophet: i guess every body is going to drown from the flood ba-dum tiss~_

How terrible, people in Halk could have eaten that drum set.

 _Proxy4818: Liking the story so far and am awaiting chapter 4 I want to see the look on cromwell's face when he finds out he should have listened to wardes._

 _I also wonder what Joseph will do he has to at least no something's up with Tabitha and everyone in tristain being dead and all._

 _Also I want to see how the emperor of germania reacts because many fanfics portray him as overconfident. If he's like that in this story I can easily imagine him underestimating the situation thinking that having all of Germania behind him will guarantee an easy win only to be in for the most terrible shock of his life._

I hope you were still waiting… Cromwell should despair by next chapter since the Flood will finally sweep Albion. He'll probably think his toy finally died and go pay his sister a visit or something, I don't know, he's crazy. Not really sure about Germania so will leave it in the air for now but Germania with it's large size will surely be a fun time…

 _Demon-255: I don't see enough Flood crossovers these days. Thank you for making this you sadistic son of a b**ch, and keep up the good work._

Many thanks, the Flood is cool.

 _A Random Troll: Hold up, I just realized: though it'd have to have happened in Chapter 2, you didn't actually write out Siesta's death/infection, did you? She's the only character in the show that I even remotely care about, so I'd appreciate it if you went back and edited Chapter 2 to at least grant her the dignity of her own death scene. Better yet, have her somehow have escaped Tristain and have her be one of the few survivors that some stray UNSC ship picks up before they cleanse the planet._

Now how'd you predict that? Siesta and Tabitha/Irukuku are generally people's favorites so I decided to save one for now but I didn't think someone would actually notice me glossing over it once I posted the next chapter already so good on you!


	5. Chapter 5: Albion

A/N: Sigh, the chapter was basically done already, again, but then I got busy and couldn't finish it for so long… I won't even bother explaining anymore so just enjoy the read I guess.

* * *

The Albionese soldiers of Reconquista's unease completely broke out into full out panic when their commanding officer threw his arms away to run faster, even stripping his armor to gain a small boost in speed after he saw how easily their claws rended it like paper and realizing it wouldn't save him.

A mob of people flooded out of the gateway, some completely naked while others in just their clothes, all madly sprinting away from the enemy reinforcements. Above their heads, cannon balls flew as the Lexicon attempted to shoot down some of the Flood ships which came into view through the fog. Unfortunately for Albion, the Flood were experts at driving damaged ships and every single one that was shot out of the sky landed into either a building or mass of people, a rain of infected, literally, littering the battlefield.

Infection foams covered the fields as the small groups all joined together into a large infected mass, droning its way towards the capital, a certain orphanage in the woods was also not spared as the flood infected stormed the building. Spearheading the assault on the orphanage was the Alpha form as it detected a strange life sign within the wooden structure which the other flood didn't notice and hence assigned a low priority to the building.

Upon sensing the peculiarity, the Alpha form pulled some infected from the proto-gravemind and lead the strikeforce to the small settlement. All the children were holed up a in corner as their guardian, an elf, stood in front of them and watched the door. She had quickly gotten all of them to hide after the children heard the sounds of war approach and witnessed shambling human husks leaping overhead.

The six combat forms and two mage forms crashed through the roof, kicking up a cloud of debris with their entrance before pouncing towards the younglings and apprehending the elf, restraining her on the Alpha form's orders. They brought her before the Alpha form and forced her to her knees.

"Monster!"

In response, the Alpha form raised its arm from which tentacles sprouted to the elf's face and they proceeded to enter her mouth and nostrils, forcing themselves throughout her body. Choking sounds and the slithery movement of the tentacles would be heard by anyone present. The disgusting extensions eventually rescinded long after the violated maiden fainted.

Having determined that this being was indeed special, he marked it in the same category as the noble in the castle and ordered the combat forms to transport the unconscious prisoner to the rear before returning the rest to the control of the hive. Now alone, the Alpha form looked upon the children corpses and again, without warning nor willing it, reached out and stroked the heads of one of the more intact bodies, closing its eyes. After that it regained control again, perplexed.

It shook off the strange lingering feeling and looked outside, seeing a flood ship firing on one of the human ones, taking it out of the sky while reinforcements continued to pour from the fleet.

* * *

Somewhere in the Albion a few hours after the invasion began in earnest, Cromwell was observing the man before him with narrowed eyes, fearing that Wardes' insanity had now spread to his troops as well.

"It was hideous, I've never seen anything like it sire!"

'Sure they were…'

"There were countless of them my lord! They fed on all the remaining loyalists to bolster their ranks, that's how they held out for so long!"

'Oh and they don't happen to have tentacles do they?'

"Their arms were all mangled as well, they were deformed and transformed into tentacles!"

'Of course they do! At least he probably will get to the actual report now...'

"And then, when we finally got their leader cornered, an entire fleet of them showed up and started attacking!"

'In the Founder's name!'

"The ships had the insignia of Port La Rochelle, that means that Tristain may have already fallen!"

'So first a giant and now intelligence on the scale of piloting an entire air fleet? This is just getting beyond ridiculous...'

The man continued his report, unstopped by the guards this time for the next few minutes before another person barged into the room and knelt.

"My deepest apologies my lord but I regret to inform that we have lost all the territories surrounding Newcastle and are steadily losing more ground."

"What?!"

Even Cromwell could not keep calm when something like that was reported.

"It may be imprudent of me but it is in this inferior one's humble opinion that unless we immediately retaliate with our full force, we stand absolutely no chance of survival!"

Completely kneeling with his forehead on the floor at the very lowest, the soldier, which upon closer inspection was his frontline general, begged his superior to act.

'This cannot be happening! Is that why the scout ship didn't report back? Founder be damned, how could such a thing happen without any warning whatsoever?! Everything was going as planned until Wardes came back with his report… After I locked him up, the damned bitch disappeared with the ring.'

He slightly rubbed his fingers up and down, feeling the lack of a ring on his hand. The act controlled his emotions somewhat and he mustered up the will to speak.

"Very well, I entrust everything to you, deploy the dragon knights and recall our ships, rally every man and woman willing or unwilling so long as they are able to fight, don't let the front be pushed back any further!"

"Yes!"

Following that, even the throne room guards were recalled and Cromwell gave an imperial edict for all his troops to recruit and pull fighters from all over Albion to the southern front, an action so insane that anyone who truly knew of the flood would think him suicidal. With a sudden increase of cannon fodder troops over the next few days, the advance of the flood which was slow due to enemy dragon knights providing air support and the entrenchments used to fight the loyalists being reused, sped up exponentially with each group of reinforcements the Albionese received.

The advance was swift and whenever the flood successfully brought down a dragon, a new Juggernaut was born to tear through the enemy lines and wreak havoc anew for the demoralized and desperate soldiers. Replenishment of biomass and troops were not an issue in the least for the flood as their army advanced forward with a trail of dead at the rear, allowing infection forms to claim more bodies.

Child and elderly bodies which were often too frail to withstand proper combat were usually converted to birth pods to produce more infection forms. In order to efficiently clean up and reuse the biomass, Sweeper forms, made from fallen Juggernauts, were deployed. These forms were a variant of the Transport pure forms but only retained their biomass recycling functions and had four triple jointed arms, formed by splitting the combined wings and arms of the dragons and forcing a new joint into place.

A few of them were also deployed, as artillery, to support the front line as the fresh bodies were absorbed using its numerous tentacles to form growth pods which then grew within its body before the pods were launched into the air, bursting either from an enemy arrow, raining infection forms down, or landing and scattering them all around.

With such a bountiful and easy harvest, the flood easily took over the entire southern portion of the floating continent within a week and fierce combat took place as the humans were forced to abandon the defence of the route to the north to save the capital. With their forces concentrated in the capital, few stood in the flood's way as it consumed the remaining settlements in the north, many jumping off the island to escape infection, only to fall to their demise, a fate seemingly more merciful on their souls.

"If you had just listened to me, we might not be in this mess!"

"Oh shut up and fight Wardes, be happy I didn't order your execution!"

In yet another last stand, Cromwell and the acquitted Wardes stood back to back in the throne room as the last royal guard was felled by the combat forms all swinging numerous tentacle whips at him. The surviving two rebels desperately tried to hold out as long as they could but, as with all the others, they were merely holding off the inevitable and soon their willpower ran dry, their blood grew thin, and their pulses grew faint, death claiming them like all those before.

* * *

After arriving in Germania, Mart the Mighty and his Servantile Squad all registered in the adventurer's guild branch and formed a guild for themselves under the name of Mart's Menagerie, a suggestion by Siesta, despite his numerous protests. A week later, now somewhat accustomed to their new life hunting monsters and gathering herbs in the countryside, with news that Mart the Mighty was back, their name had been spread far and wide through the country.

They didn't bother with telling the nobles about the attack since the result would be obvious, the rumors of the others' who tried but failed only affirmed their belief. Picking up rumors, it seems that the entire of Tristain had fallen and the merchant's guild had an unspoken ban on travel there, all trips taking the roundabout route through Romania for caravans going to Gallia. Many wept during that period but as a family, they consoled themselves and managed to push through after a joint memorial service.

They often solicited for rumors of Tristain survivors but it seems like no one made it out alive. The guild had yet to secure permanent base, currently concentrating on moving deeper towards the capital in order to get as far away from the border as possible. If Marteau was the leader of the monks, then his other half would be Siesta, the most skilled of the ninja maids who made it a point to prank him everyday but still diligently helped him to prepare dinner like she used to.

Today, the part of the guild was doing a rather simple job of clearing out a goblin den. The green little creatures which often camped in the forest, had found a cave like outcropping which sloped downward into the earth and began nesting in it. One would normally associate goblins with words such as weak and beginner but the truth was that they were the number one threat to any village.

Nobles who lorded over villages often neglected sending any guards to actually guard the villagers and concentrated the patrol in and around their homes. This lead to shortages in manpower and a rise in people getting kidnapped by nearby monsters without ever getting rescued since what little guards present had to guard the village as a whole to avoid it getting overrun.

Germania handled this problem better due to its high warrior output, a contributing factor in its title as a barbarian nation. Their allowance of commoners to rise to nobility through wealth also aided in this but there would be nobles who still neglected their people and consequently, people were still being abducted.

Siesta was in charge of this mission along with two maids and a butler. A torch in one hand and a dagger in the other, she led the team of four in a diamond formation where the monk watched the rear. Slowly they advanced through the tunnels and the smell got worse. It already stunk terribly when the foul things set up in a forest but in such an enclosed environment, the stench was nigh unbearable for most.

Eventually they were at crossroads and the team split into two, one of the maids following Siesta. Goblin cave dens generally consisted of two areas, a birthing room and a living ground. By checking the footprints, one could determine that the one with more leading to it would usually be the living grounds and Siesta set off towards this location.

The other two then headed towards the breeding grounds to fulfill their request. After a short trek upwards they heard the sounds of vile abuse and increased their pace to quickly dispatch the goblins within. The beasts were swiftly dispatched and they examined the mental state of their victim. The request had been fairly recent and so the psychological damage should have been minor in comparison but they had to make sure.

After ensuring she was still sane, they carried the injured little girl who had long since fainted and moved her out of the cave, meeting Siesta outside with the usual smile on her face. Of course, her clothing had not a single speck of blood nor grime, as if it had been coated with repellant. Her partner on the other hand, was not as lucky and had been covered in bloody. The usual thoughts floated in the other maid's mind.

'I still wonder how Siesta does it but every time we ask her, she just laughs and brushes it off saying that it is a natural thing for one hell of a maid such as herself.'

A cold chill ran up her spine thinking about the last time she was partnered with Siesta.

'She just took them all down with that very smile on her face, it's just very traumatizing and the thieves who survived all became rambling wrecks…'

With a large sweat drop appearing on her forehead, the maid took out the map and lead the way to the girl's home village where she was reunited with her family. After collecting the small reward, they departed and returned to the adventurer's guild to join the rest of the guild which had returned.

This was how the troupe had been working, half, led by Siesta, of them would deal with problems which plagued the common folk for low rewards while the other half would be led by Marteau to do high paying requests. After about a week or two, the group would then move to the next further inland settlement to escape infection.

* * *

A/N: Hope it was an alright chapter, gonna need to work on Freedom and Democracy now or the guys over there are gonna keep spamming my other stories for me to update it lol. Next update to this will be a long ways off so I see you then!

* * *

 _Lq840i: Nice update and will you do a fanfic where the elves get Mass effect or halo weaponry_

Probably not I don't think, seems like it'd be lacking much drive if it's just about them having found high tech weapons so maybe I'll consider it if an idea which meshes well with it pops up.

 _king Quinn The Last Heir: Glad your back updating and will we have the elves get invaded later on?_

Oh of course, just that they'll be one of the last to be quelled.

 _Danget the critic: So Louise is a spirit stuck in the flood on her world? Will she get some control of her body back after the flood take of? Of course given that she would be more or less insane by that point she might just go around helping the flood take over more worlds. It would be kinda funny just having the flood pop around the galaxy using world doors. (That would actually be a fun separate story of one-shots)_

 _At any rate, keep up the good work, you lovable psychopath._

That seems like it would be a fun endeavor but I doubt I'd have the will to write it so someone else can go and do that but we'll see. Thanks as always.

 _Quelthias: At some point word doesn't just get out, it lingers and is believed._

 _Especially in the church which will likely see them as demons._

 _The question is when long will proof and belief persist and not be silenced?_

 _When there is no word from the lords from other lords._

 _Will Gravemind Louise disguise the lord's pretending everything is OK?_

 _Or will she not bother with it because, there is no possibility of survival either way._

 _Oh except for one source which other fanfic authors don't mention, Elves._

 _They might have the hardest forces to fight and infect._

Demons huh? I suppose that's pretty accurate.

I think people will decide to take serious action after another two invasions or so.

I don't actually understand this point but if you mean if she'll try to save people then no, she's currently in a mental prison with minimal sanity and control.

Oh most definitely, elves will be a tough nut to crack but the flood always finds a way.

 _Akshka: Woot woot a gravemind is being formed_

Yup yup, but not just a grave mind, it goes bigger.

 _The Keeper of Worlds:_ _Wow, ok, Louise really is in a mental hell. A very nice and cleared up description this round and it came out perfectly to reflect her mind. The Henrietta fate will really torment her._

With much thanks, we'll revisit Louise once the story progresses more and I hope not to disappoint.

 _lector friki en extincion: update freedom and democracy_

Can you not post this here? Like just PM me or post it on the actual story, I know I need to update it, reminders are appreciated but please don't do this lol...


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